


Returned, Reunited, Reborn

by Dzuljeta



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chance Meetings, F/M, Female Friendship, Fluff, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Reunions, Romance, Time Lady Rose, doubts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-02-29 17:44:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18783064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dzuljeta/pseuds/Dzuljeta
Summary: Rose is looking for the Doctor. She finds frustrated Donna Noble instead.Soon, Donna realises her troubles aren’t troubles at all...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> BBC owns everything.

**Returned, Reunited, Reborn**

**1.**

"I have left the TARDIS key inside!" Donna whined to herself. That was what happened when she wasn’t careful.

"If only you were as sentient as the Doctor tells us you are, you could let me back in!" She has been too annoyed to realise she’s just insulted the sentient vessel.

Instead of doing anything to help her, the TARDIS has only locked herself more firmly.

The redhead sighed heavily, knowing all she had to do was wait for the Doctor to return and let her back in.

Rose Tyler could see the redhead from far away, even if the TARDIS has been what she's been looking for.

"Hi, old girl," she breathed.

To Donna's  surprise, the ship's door has opened widely the following second.She looked at the fair-haired woman incredulously. “Who are you? A magician? How do you-”

“I have my ways,” Rose said with a tired smile. "Are you coming in, or what?" She asked.

Donna Noble remembered herself. “How should I know you’re not a thief of some kind?”

“How should you know I’m not an alien of some kind?” She countered.

Donna looked the girl over. “You don’t look like-” The meaningful look on the young woman’s face has left her questioning everything.

“Exactly,” Rose smiled softly, puzzling the redhead further. “You looked worried, before. Has anything happened?”

“I have forgotten my key inside and was afraid I’d need to wait for the Doctor to let me in,” she said, uncomfortable.

Rose nodded at her knowingly. “For how long have you been travelling with him?”

“I don’t even know you. Why should I tell you anything?”

“You shouldn’t.”

Donna inhaled. “I think you should go in first.”

Rose beamed at her. Forgetting a key, it has been so familiar! So human! As was the redhead’s unwillingness to be the first one stepping in. “I’m coming in. Are you? Or would you rather I stayed out, allowing you to barricade yourself from any danger? From me, for example?” 

Donna shook her head. If anything, this young blonde was brave. But so was she!

“I am risking everything by allowing you in. I must call the Doctor and ask for permission first!”

“Okay!” What wouldn’t Rose give to hear his voice again… “Would you mind turning the phone speaker on? Please?”

Donna shook her head. “I cannot do that. You might perform some trick and-”

Rose nodded, used to never being trusted, having learnt that much from her forced stay in Pete’s World. “All right.”

But hearing the Doctor’s loud and angry response has surprised both his current companion and Rose alike.

“Don’t allow anyone you don’t know in! I forbid you to! I wouldn’t have my TARDIS ravaged by strangers! I thought you were more reasonable than that, Miss Noble!”

“Whatever’s up with you?!” Donna shouted back at him.

“Keep her close,” he hissed angrily. “But don’t allow her in! I should be back in several hours.”

Donna hung up. “He forbids me to allow you aboard.”

“I have heard. Has anything happened, to make him so…”

“Well, assuming I am to stay here with you until he returns, I think I can share some things with you.”

Rose sent her a curious smile.

“There was this girl he has lost, gone inside a parallel universe-”

Rose gaped, feeling all colour leave her face.

Donna glanced at her, too fond of spreading rumours to stop. “He has somehow heard this girl, Rose, was getting married to some John or Jack or whatever-”

Rose was shocked, sitting down onto the cold damp ground, her whole body shaking. 

“No! I’m not! I have sworn to be his forever-”

Donna Noble wasn’t used to dealing with people having panic attacks. “Shush, my dear. Let’s discuss this slowly.”

Rose gulped. “There is not much to discuss. Someone has fooled him into believing-”

Donna wanted to believe her. But the Doctor’s panicked reaction about some stranger wanting to come aboard has stopped her. “How should I know you’re not lying?”

“You can’t.”

“Yes,” the redhead nodded at her thoughtfully. “We must stay here and wait for him. Will you manage?” She looked at the stranger fearfully. “Without fainting, or-

“For the Doctor to be making fun of me because of it later?” Rose inhaled. The sudden return back into her home universe was taking its toll on her, but she was determined not to show her weaknesses to Donna… or to anyone.

“I won’t tell him, I promise!”

Rose smiled at her. “It’s okay. I intend to live through it.”

Donna looked at her dubiously. “The Doctor’s going to kill me, if anything happens to you… Rose.”

Rose’s smile slipped. She realised her pretending to be strong might not work for much longer. “If it gets worse, call him again,” she breathed, sitting down again.

The ginger companion panicked. “I won’t have you die on me, do you hear?”

“I won’t. It’s the familiar surroundings getting to me, nothing else.”

Donna blinked at her, not understanding her reasoning. Calling the Doctor sounded like the best thing she could do.

“Yes?” The Doctor’s voice sounded harsh.

“I don’t know how to tell you,” Donna spoke hurriedly. “Rose is here and she insists on waiting for you outside, just as you asked-”

The Time Lord inhaled. That was new.  “What kind of a shape-shifting alien have you just brought upon us, Donna?! Do you understand how much energy it takes out of me to see their true selves through?”

Rose sighed, fighting back tears of frustration.

“Tell him- tell him I can’t-”

“You better hurry up and see to her right now, Spaceman,” she said sharply. “The weather outside is barely tolerable. I can’t guarantee she’d survive without passing out for much longer,” Donna warned.

“Oh, to hell with it,” he swore, not believing in her words for a second, yet ready to come to Donna and prove to her not everything which felt completely real actually was. “I’m coming.”

Donna Noble sat down beside Rose, trying to ignore the cold damp ground as much as she could.

“He’s coming,” she said soothingly.

“Coming how?” Rose asked her quietly, not wanting to tell Donna she knew of several ways the Doctor could reach them, even without the TARDIS. Her working inside Torchwood and occasionally performing some side-jobs for UNIT has surely paid off.

Watching the Doctor’s figure materialise in front of them, Rose could only look at the Doctor with disillusion.

“How  _ could _ you?”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Previously...**

_ Watching the Doctor’s figure materialise in front of them, Rose could only look at the Doctor with disillusion. _

_ “How  _ could  _ you?” _

 

**Returned, Reunited, Reborn**

**2.**

 

It only took the Doctor less than half a second to realise the real, unimagined Rose Tyler was standing in front of him. However, instead of running to her and bathing her face and hair in kisses, he sent her an apologetic look.

The only thought inside his mind was he must have accidentally messed something up, likely during one of his angry outbreaks. “Rose, I’ll make sure you return to your parallel fiancé safely, I swear-”

She gulped. “My parallel  _ what?  _ I have promised  _ you _ my everything, Doctor. Which means my love, my body, my soul.  _ Forever. _ ”  _ Is this how short your memory is? _

The Doctor smiled, his face brightening. “Do you mean you aren’t getting married?”

“You fool,” Rose said breathlessly.  _ You utter, absolute idiot. I have no-one left in this world. Mum, Pete, Mickey, Tony, even Shareen, they’re all inside Pete’s World, constructing their lives on their own. Without me. _

The Time Lord beamed at her, delighted. “Which means it’s just you and I, again?”

“Don’t forget Donna!” She reminded.

“Donna’s not a problem. As unlikely as it looks at times, she has always wanted me to be happy.”

"Were you?" She asked him softly.

"Not in the way she wanted me to be," the Doctor said. "My life without you has been-”

Donna Noble sighed, reminding the couple of herself. “The only times the Spaceman has been tolerable enough were when we were both going through some kind of an adventure,” she has somehow finished what he didn't say.  “Still, I cannot remember seeing him as amazed and excited as he is now,” she beamed at the two. I’m off to my room, yeah? Keep an eye on your beloved,” Donna smiled, already rejoicing about this miraculous occurrence. Seeing people happy was making her happy.

The Doctor looked at Rose worriedly. “I have just realised Donna has been telling me you don’t… or didn’t feel well.”  _ Is there anything I could do to make you feel better? Anything? _

The Doctor understood what he was craving for was to wrap his arms around her. Even if nothing else was ever going to happen, he was convinced he was going to be completely content with this prospect. “No. No.” Rose said quietly.

“What is it, my Rose?”

She inhaled. “You might want to know this is not what I was expecting from this magical moment.”

“I didn’t even think seeing you again was possible,” the Time Lord admitted.

Rose sighed. Sometimes, the Doctor thought it best to simply give up.  _ My Doctor. I am never giving you up. Even if you had. _

Her words were kind. She could have reminded him of some dreadful decisions of his, could have sent him some bitter remarks they both knew he deserved. But instead, she smiled. “Come. I’ll show you some things you have missed. Remember, I am not angry at you for any of this.”

Startled, the Doctor allowed Rose’s sufficiently bare mind intertwine with his. It was something only Time Lords knew how to do. Two Time Lords as close as Rose and the Doctor have been.

She held his hand and allowed him to see everything. Her slow, lengthy and excruciating transformation into a Time Lady, with Jackie ready to ostracise her because she reminded her of the Time Lord who was likely the one to blame for her Rose suddenly only worrying about finding a way back to him. All the mother wanted was a peaceful human life. With a lot of money. All Rose wanted was another chance with the Doctor. 

With their hopes and expectations shattered by one foolish action, she knew she deserved a chance brutally torn away from them. With the chance open once more, together with Rose’s nature supposed to bring them closer than ever.

 

_ My Rose. My beloved, courageous Rose! You have gone through it all by yourself! _

The Doctor hated himself for not having been there for Rose, of course. He believed he could have helped her to survive the transformation. “I would have done anything to make your pain disappear!”

She sighed, incredulous. “Do you see me as someone who is unable to take care of herself?”

“Don’t be silly, Rose!  _ I have never, could never doubt in you! _

She sent him a meaningful look. After having seen her going through it all, without ever getting the alleviation of the process in a form of delirious sleep.  _ If you say so.  _

“It’s even more so now that I know you may have more hidden strengths within you than anyone could imagine!”

Rose giggled. “I’ve been craving for you to say something of this kind for years.”

The Doctor was honestly surprised. “I have always been thinking we are encouraging and praising each other every day! Or was it not enough?”

“Possibly,” Rose teased him kindly. “I’d have given anything to hear you say something openly. A plain love confession not hidden under multiple layers and meaningful looks.”

_ Do you still want me to? _

Rose blushed.  _ If you’d like. _

The Doctor beamed at her. “Since you’re asking me so kindly, I can’t refuse.”  _ Rose Marion Tyler. Rose Tyler. Dame Rose. Rose. I love you. _

Rose smiled, only her burning eyes reacting to his confession. 

“Rose? Is everything all right?” The Doctor was immediately worried.

_ My Doctor. Thank you. From this moment on, I am yours and you are mine. Truly.  _

The Time Lord beamed at her, amused. “We might think so, Rose, but the old girl only accepts one kind of a union as the true one.”

“A telepathic bond.” She breathed. “Yes, I know. Have heard about it.”

The Doctor gave her a curious look. “From where, if I may ask?”

“From you, back when you were feeling somewhat nostalgic and told me about its importance on your home planet.”

“Me? Nostalgic? Preposterous!” He laughed, actually remembering the moment very well. That was one of the quiet evenings aboard when he realised Rose was the only one he would want

to form the telepathic bond with.

“Or maybe sentimental is the word?” The Time Lord continued their conversation, one feeling both light and very, very serious.   
  



End file.
